What Will Happen If You Mix Prozac and Weed?

According to the WHO (World Health Organisation), depression will become one of the main illnesses of modern society in the years that follow.

Nowadays, it affects more than 264 million people around the world (mostly women), and there are some devastating statistics in relation to it.

Believe it or not, the percentage of people who don’t receive any therapy for depression is between 76% and 85%.

That wouldn’t be so strange if there weren’t so many different types of effective treatments. For example, you can choose between CBT which stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, IPT – Interpersonal Psychotherapy, you can use antidepressants, etc.

Of course, using medications is the easiest way, and therefore most people go with that option. Your health-care provider can give you either SSRI – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or TCA – tricyclic antidepressants since both of them treat depression.

So, what happens if someone takes any of these medications? Can they mix it with weed? As an example, we will take a closer look at one of the most popular prescription drugs, Prozac, that belongs to the SSRI group of antidepressants.

We must say at the beginning, the answer to this question is not so simple. There are different researches that show both positive and negative effects of combining Prozac and weed, so without further ado, let’s jump to some explanations.

Are you familiar with Prozac?

Before we start, there are some things you need to know about this pharmaceutical gem.

Anyone who has ever used this antidepressant can thank Bryan Barnet Molloy, David T. Wong, and Klaus Schmiegel. Those were the three chemists who actually invented it. So, alongside all those things that the ‘90s have brought us, we can add Prozac on the list.

Prozac was meant to be the medicine that will cure high blood pressure. As it turned out, it didn’t do a great job with that (they tested it on both animals and humans). But it had some impact on anxiety and depression and since then it’s been one of the leading medicines around the world.

How does Prozac actually work? We’ll try to explain the process in a simplified way, so you can understand it better.

There are three hormones in our body that are in charge of our mood. Those would be serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline.

When we are suffering from depression, it means that our body is in deficit of one of those hormones, since neurotransmitters are not transferring enough of it to our brain (it’s usually serotonin).

When you take Prozac, it actually blocks serotonin until there is enough of it, and then it releases it which makes a person feel relaxed and satisfied.

It affects our mood, boosts energy, and overall helps us improve everyday life. Therefore, it’s used for many different conditions such as:

Panic attacks

Obsessive-compulsive disorder

Depression associated with bipolar disorder

Binge eating disorders, etc.

If we take into consideration all those things Prozac can do for us, it’s no wonder it’s one of the best selling medicines out there.

It’s not harmful when you use it alone, but what will happen if you combine it with weed? Sometimes nothing, but sometimes a lot of things.

From top to bottom in no time

As we mentioned, you could mix Prozac and weed without experiencing any consequences.

However, you are taking a great risk, because the negative effects of this combination are definitely possible. They are considered to be low to moderate, but still, they exist.

Weed is supposed to make people feel less stressed and overall more relaxed. The same as Prozac.

That being said, you could easily get hypomania, which is the most common negative effect of mixing those two. We would like to familiarize you with this condition a little bit, so you are fully aware of the negative symptoms you could experience.

Hypomania is a mood disorder and its symptoms are the complete opposite of depression. At first glance, it may sound strange if you say that overexcitement is a disorder, but it is. The hypomanic episodes can be very harmful not only for the patient but for the people that surround them, too.

Some manifestations of this disorder are lack of sleep, constant desire to talk about everything, an optimistic view on every possible thing but also an excessive need to fight and make incidents.

When you list all these symptoms, the condition doesn’t really sound like something you should be worried about. But when you dig a little deeper, you’ll see it gets serious.

To start, hypomania could become an addiction. So, instead of using Prozac and weed as a way to relax, you will be using it because you are addicted to that combination.

You will have a desire to feel like that constantly, and in no time that desire will grow into something much bigger. You won’t be able to think with a clear mind, you will make wrong decisions and fight with the people around you that try to help you.

As a result, people sink deeper and deeper without even realizing that. In the end, most of the people look for consolation in alcohol. This condition does not include hospitalization, since it appears in episodes and it’s not constant, but it can still change someone’s behavior long term.

As you can see, hypomania is not to be neglected. You may experience happiness at certain moments, but in the end, it will leave you in complete misery and oftentimes with suicidal thoughts.

Prozac and weed: Are you willing to take a risk?

Of course, hypomania is not the only negative effect that can result after using Prozac and weed. There are many others and they may not be that harmful, but they are worth paying attention to.

For example, if you mix Prozac and weed you can increase the risk of experiencing:

Blurred vision

Fast and uneven heart beating

Confusion

Face and tongue swelling

Intense weakness

In the end, let’s not forget the fact that if you use those two combined, you are most likely not going to be fully conscious. That can result in forgetting your Prozac dose at one point.

Forgetting to take your medicine can lead you to other problems, and in the end, you may end up feeling more depressed than you used to be.

The doctor’s opinion matters

We’ll conclude the topic with one extremely important thing. If you like how weed lifts your mood and you don’t feel like you want to stop consuming it, tell that to your doctor before they give you Prozac.

This way they will familiarize themselves with your habits better, and they will be able to give you the right dosage of the medication you need. It is a bit of a challenge for them to combine those two, but after all, they are specialists and you should listen to them.

Of course, the best thing you can do is abstain from weed temporarily, since that way Prozac can have the best effect.

You may even consider using only weed for depression, which is something that you need to discuss with your doctor.

Most importantly — don’t do anything on your own. That is the only way to protect yourself from experiencing all the potential side effects.